Posts Tagged With: Squash

Butternut squash has hit the farmers’ market and this is exciting news, folks. Matt celebrated by making this delicious, creamy (without any dairy cream) and perfect soup for the start of Fall.

Admittedly it is time-consuming, so make it on the weekend or for a holiday. Matt found the recipe by googling “butternut squash” and searching through what came up. This recipe is from the blog, With Style and Grace, which specializes in gluten-free recipes (but not vegetarian or vegan). You can get the full recipe at this link. We used vegetable bullion instead of chicken broth, and did not use the creme fraiche. It was delicious.

The main ingredients are: butternut squash, carrots, fresh ginger, and leeks. The reason it takes so long is that you have to roast the carrots and butternut squash for 45 minutes before making the soup. Here they are post-roasting:

Then you saute the leek and ginger, add the chopped roasted squash and carrots and simmer.

Then let it cool before you puree it in the food process or blender. (It is really important to let it cool, otherwise it might splurt out of your food process or blender creating a huge and frustrating mess.) Top with the roasted squash seeds or pine nuts, which is what we did.

Apologies for the long break in posting. I took a two week work trip to northern Iraq and got off track. Now I’m back home and eager to enjoy the last of summer’s tomatoes and the new fall vegetables.

Here is one of our favorite squash varieties: Delicata Squash.

How to prepare:

Delicata squash does not need to be peeled or steamed. Just scrub the outside of the fruit, then chop it into rounds. Using a paring knife or your fingers, scrape out the middle part with the seeds, so that you have donut-like rounds. After that, you can saute, grill, bake or roast it.

Roasted Delicata Squash with Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes and Shallots

The three vegetables in this dish all have rich, sweet flavors once roasted. You do not need much oil for this dish at all. As they cook, the tomatoes will break open and when the juices mix together that is when the taste becomes amazing. It is perfect to serve on top of simple steamed greens, because the strong flavors mask the blandness of the greens.

Ingredients:

1 delicata squash, cleaned, sliced into rounds and de-seeded

1 large container of orange cherry tomatoes, cleaned

2-4 shallots, peeled and chopped in quarters

1 teaspoon olive oil

several sprigs fresh rosemary and thyme (or you can use dried if you don’t have fresh)

1 teaspoon (approx) crushed garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 425

Spray a long baking dish with cooking spray. Add the vegetables, olive oil, herbs, garlic and salt and mix together

Cook on the middle tray for about 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes

I sliced it in rounds. Then I sauted it with garlic scapes, toasted pine nuts, raisins, lemon and fresh parsley. Garlic scapes were also a new discovery for me as a result of our CSA. Garlic scapes are the green, curling top of the garlic bulb, and are edible.

Later in the month, Matt used pattypan squash to make a squash and potato summer soup from the cookbook, Color Me Vegan.

You can essentially use it like you would use other squash or zucchini, so put it raw in a salad, cook it in a stew with other vegetables for ratatouille, or grill it. You can eat the entire squash, minus the stem. You do not need to peel it.

This is another super easy way to cook your summer vegetables. The recipe is from the cookbook, Color Me Vegan, which you’ve probably noticed that I love.

Chop the squash and cherry tomatoes, rubbed them in oil, garlic and fresh herbs (basil, thyme and cilantro or parsley) and top them with a mixture of pine nuts and nutritional yeast. Then bake them. It’s just that easy.